Ben
One of the first things Rina remembers from her childhood is blue eyes and golden hair. It is not until years later that she realises why.
When they get to Mourningwood she is covered in muck and wearing a purple mercenary suit, tired and wanting a nice place to sleep. She does not get that. Instead, she gets an order to go up to the mortar and learn how to shoot.
And when she is there, he warns her there's a slight chance of maiming, and she jokes with him about his choice of words. When the Hollow Men appear, she has to calm herself. But it never gets easier, even as she slices her way through dozens of undead.
She is charmed by his cocky personality and strength, and at the same time his wisdom on the battleground. He is by her side during the battle, swords scything out against the enemy, and she has never felt more protected in her life.
Part of her wants him to come to the party with them, just so that she can keep that feeling of protection around him. When Page denies him, another part of her sighs in relief. Page does not want him.
When she collapses in that desert, and the first thing she sees through blurry eyes is gold and cerulean, after the darkness whispers to her about her secret desires, she realises, then and there, that she will try her hardest to keep him.
She does herself no favours with him by not killing her brother, but while she knows his grief is strong, she can't just kill Logan to make him feel better. That would kill her too.
After the Darkness is destroyed, and she asks him if he's going, one terrified part of her considers that he might actually, and when he says he's staying it's the most relief she's felt in a long time.
When she jumps in front of Reaver's pistol she knows that she's not doing this for Reaver; she's doing it for Ben, and later on, in her rooms, she shows him that.
When it comes back to her that a childhood friend was Ben, she has never been happier.
When Luna first sees him, she immediately finds him to her liking. He's an arrogant rogue and he'd fight to keep her safe if it was required of him.
The first time they talk, they exchange light flirting, because Luna is going to be different this time, not the naïve princess who used to wear light blue and giggle all the time, and flirting with a soldier is a good start.
She remembers to hitch up her skirt when they are waiting for the gate to fall, her leg braced against a statue, and he's looking. They fight back to back, Luna surrounding them in fire and obliterating the Hollow Men, Ben firing off powerful, accurate shots, their shoulders touching.
And when it's over and the Hollow Men are down, he finds her leaning against a wall, his rifle jams, and their fingers touch. Suddenly their lips are frustratingly close and yet too far away, Major Swift calls his name, and he leaves.
Later on, when she finds Elliot, she tries to pretend nothing ever happened, and that she's completely in love with Elliot – which she is. Snubbed, Ben turns to flirting with Page.
He leaves, and she thinks she's seen the last of her interest in him, when he returns after a few months, and a mad stalker of his leads her right to him.
She has no idea why she sets down the dare for him; perhaps she just wants to get the tension she feels around him out of the way and inspire him to leave. Either way, it's on, and he doesn't make things easy.
At first he's an annoyance; then he's all she thinks about. The next time she's with Elliot intimately, she imagines him instead of her husband, and when it's over, after a stronger relief than she's ever experienced, she's both plagued with guilt and secretly enjoying herself.
When Elliot shuffles off this mortal coil, Ben protects her, and the dare is no longer a problem, a thing weighing down on her mind, but something to look forward to, a pleasant future she's allowed to have.
And at the end of the dare he stays.
Tallusa realises that Ben fits everything she looks for in a man – blonde, a soldier, and rugged. She told Reaver as much when she was a little girl.
It's after Mourningwood, when they meet again, that they tell each other, in no uncertain terms, that they're interested in each other. And when she drops her Guild Seal and releases Sparrow's soul, he kisses her, and she kisses back.
He is almost in awe of her when she rescues Swift from execution, and she doesn't realise how much he feels he owes her while she's dragging the half-dressed Major along the streets and into the sewers.
After the Revolution, he's not sure about her, because she changes how she acts, the way she is, so he becomes more reclusive, and he doesn't seek her out. That is why they don't marry, and that's why they don't sleep together.
Her loss wounds him; when he thinks she's dead, he buries his grief beneath meaningless relationships that all hurt him in one way or another. She watches him from afar, wishing he wouldn't harm himself because of her.
Eight months later they're lying in bed together, stroking each other's hair, finally unified. It has taken her time to get to him, and it's hurt, but nothing will part them ever again.
Valkyrie has no interest in keeping this one.
He'll be a quick, easy conquest and then she'll move on again. She is attracted to Ben because she can't help but see his arrogance and cockiness as a challenge, and Avo help her if she hasn't always loved challenges.
She finds herself on the receiving end of an attempted seduction, because Ben has decided he wants her as a notch on his bed too.
It takes a heated look in the sewers to solidify that interest, and Valkyrie finds herself in a night of mind-numbing euphoria when they do act upon it.
When it's over, they exchange thanks for the casual intimacy, and go on being better comrades than before.
Avo has decreed it to be so. Ben Finn is not to belong to her, and she is destined to be bound to another.
A/N Because Valkyrie always goes against the grain.